The European Commission today outlined new plans
to accelerate the drive for safer, cleaner and smarter cars. The Commission will
start negotiations with European and Asian automotive industry associations
later this year to reach an agreement on offering the pan-European in-vehicle
emergency call system (eCall) as a standard option in all new cars from 2010. It
will also further promote the take-up of other life-saving technologies and
investigate how technology can help make cars greener and smarter.

"Technology can save lives, improve road transport and protect the
environment. The EU must spread this good news among consumers and continue to
put pressure on stakeholders to ensure Europeans benefit from these winning
technologies sooner rather than later," said Viviane Reding, the EU's
Commissioner for the Information Society and Media. "If we are serious about
saving lives on European roads, then all 27 Member States should set a deadline
to make eCall and Electronic Stability Control (ESC) standard equipment in all
new cars. At the same time we need to clear administrative obstacles to
innovations that will make cars safer and cleaner. For example, making sure
radio frequencies are available for cooperative driving systems that will cut
accidents, reduce congestion and lower CO2 emissions. If fast
progress cannot be made voluntarily, I stand ready to intervene."

Jacques Barrot, Commissioner for Transport, said: "In our fight to halve
the number of road casualties by 2010, we are taking action on all fronts -
safer drivers, safer infrastructure and safer vehicles. With this action on
intelligent cars, the Commission is pushing to ensure that cutting edge
technology finds its way into our cars as soon as possible where it will help
save lives and reduce the environmental impact of transport."

Vice-President Günter Verheugen, Commissioner for Enterprise and
Industry, added: "We should fully exploit our technologies and knowledge to
the benefit of our societies. We have available technologies to better assist
drivers and by doing so we will help avoiding human tragedies. Therefore I
proposed to introduce mandatory Electronic Stability Control (ESC) for new cars
as of 2011 and I am now waiting for the public reaction."

The Commission's new Intelligent Car Communication adopted today has three
main priorities: safer, cleaner and smarter cars.

To improve safety the policy document encourages the take-up of
accident avoidance technologies. For example:

The Commission calls on Member States that still have not signed the
Commission's eCall Memorandum of Understandingto catch up by the end of
2007 (see IP/07/760).
Up to 2,500 lives could be saved in Europe if all cars were equipped with
eCall. It foresees possible regulatory actions for 2008, if there are too few
new signatures by then.

The Commission will consult on how to speed up Electronic Stability Control
(ESC) availability for middle-class and small cars later this year. 4000
lives could be saved annually, and 100,000 crashes avoided, if all cars had
ESC (see IP/07/621),
as the Commission's recent awareness drive ChooseESC! (www.chooseesc.eu/) underlined.

The Commission will hold a consultation later this year on whether
fitting braking assistance and crash avoidance systems should be
obligatory for all cars. Sensors giving drivers a half-a-second more warning
ahead of a crash, could reduce rear-end collisions by
60%.

The Commission will also produce guidelines on incentives,
such as Member State tax schemes, for smart car systems by mid-2008.

To make road transport'greener' the Commissionwill
propose in 2008a plan to roll-out the most effective low-CO2
technologies, targeting both the vehicles and the infrastructure. This
will follow the results of work to quantify ICTs contribution to reducing
CO2 in road transport for which there is currently no reliable
data.

For smarter road transport the Communication calls on relevant
stakeholders to develop a standard interface to connect, for example, mobile
navigation devices with other systems integrated into the vehicle. The
Commission also requests equipment suppliers and carmakers to implement its
December 2006 Human-Machine-Interfaces recommendation on general principles for
the safe installing and use of mobile information and communication systems
brought into the car. It will also continue to fund research into smart
communications for safer and more efficient transport.

Background:

The Intelligent Car initiative, part of the EU’s i2010 strategy (see IP/05/643),
was launched in February 2006. This was the first strategic framework for a
smarter, safer and cleaner road transport based on ICTs (see IP/06/191).

This Communication will be outlined tomorrow at the Intelligent Car Yearly
Event 2007 in Versailles, France. On 19-20 September an EU-funded research
project looking into preventive road safety applications and technologies will
exhibit its final results. 24 prototype vehicles and six simulators will also be
on display to journalists.

There will be a demonstration in Versailles on 22 September 2007 where the
public will be able to see prototype cars and find out about the car of the
future.

So far, over 50 stakeholders (such as the automotive industry, automotive
suppliers, telecom operators, road operators, emergency organisations, motoring
clubs etc.) as well as the following countries have signed the eCall Memorandum
of Understanding: Austria, Cyprus, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy,
Lithuania, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden, and Switzerland. For full list see: